If I Just Lay Here, Would You Lie With Me and Just Forget the World?
by Total Percabeth
Summary: Jamie gets sick... like, really sick and he doesn't know how to take care of himself. His mother fusses over him until Mason shows up and decides to take care of him. (Takes place before Jamie has identified his feelings for Mason!)
1. Chapter 1

Even before he was fully awake, Jamie knew that he was sick. His stomach was twisted up and clenching, he was sweating, his cheeks felt like they were on fire, his head was pounding and his mind was hazy and thick with fog.

He opened his eyes to look at the time but clenched them shut immediately to block out the light from his window. He involuntary let out a groan as there was a piercing pain behind his eyes.

Taking a few deep breaths, Jamie prepared himself for the blinding light as he opened his eyes again. He was squinting and blinking a lot, but he was able to look at his clock. The movement made his vision swim, and it took a moment for him to read the time. 9:22. Well, so much for school today. Mason would probably wonder why he wasn't there. He would get worried when Jamie won't answer, because, honestly, he didn't think he'd be able to handle the bright screen enough to send a text of any kind.

Feeling his stomach clench sharply, Jamie leapt up from the bed and almost fell over, but he managed to brace himself against his desk. Then his door and walls in the hallway as he ran for the bathroom, reaching it in time to throw up into the toilet and not all over the floor.

Jamie's cold frame shook as he emptied the contents of his stomach into the bowl over and over again until he was dry heaving. Wearily, he pressed a fiery cheek to the toilet seat as he lifted a heavy arm to grab some toilet paper to wipe his mouth before dropping it in the bowl and flushing it all away.

He lay there with his head resting against the cold porcelain, for how long he didn't know, until he heard his mom's voice from downstairs. "Jamie? Are you okay up there?"

Jamie almost instinctively said 'fine' but knew that he needed her help, because honestly, he wasn't the best at taking care of himself (worse even when he was sick). So he groaned out a 'No,' and secretly hoped she would come to take care of him like when he was little. No matter how old he was, he would always be a momma's boy at heart. Not that he'd admit it, though.

He heard her come up the stairs and from down the hall he could see her through the still open door. From his place on the floor, he watched blearily as she raced over to him.

"Oh, honey, baby, what happened? What's wrong?" She put the back of a hand to his forehead and Jamie closed his eyes at her cool touch. "Oh, honey, you're sick. I'm going to take your temperature, okay?"

Jamie kept his eyes closed as he nodded. He did open them, though, when she helped him up from where he was slouched limply over the toilet to get him leaning back against the wall. She grabbed the thermometer from the cupboard and put it in his mouth before wetting a washcloth and wiping down his face.

"102.6. That's not good, honey. How about we get you out of those sweaty clothes and into some dry ones before you go back to bed, hmm? How's that sound?"

Jamie frowned and mumbled, "Sweaty?" before looking down and seeing that, yes, his clothes were soaked through.

"Oh, honey," he heard his mom sigh sadly (why was she sad?) before a glass of water that he didn't know when she'd gotten was being pushed into his hands. "Drink this, and I'll go set some clean clothes."

Jamie took a few sips of the cool drink before tipping his head back against the wall and closing his eyes. He was grateful that his mom left the lights off. He didn't know if he could handle the bright lights with his head pulsing like it was.

Jamie felt like he'd just closed his eyes when his mom was back.

"C'mon, baby," she said as she grabbed his hands. Wait, where was his cup of water? "I got out a shirt and pants and put them on your bed." He saw it on the counter. When had it gotten there? "Your sheets were also damp so I changed them as well." Suddenly he noticed that she had pulled his arms over her shoulders and wrapped her own around his chest. "Your old ones are in a laundry basket and I'll wash them after you're settled."

"The whole bed?" He asked as he wrapped his arms around her as firmly as he could (which was not a lot) and leaned into her, his face in the crook of her neck.

"Yes, your whole bed."

"But you were gone, like, five seconds," he mumbled sleepily.

"Jamie?"

She pulled him back slightly and he reluctantly opened his eyes to see her watching him worriedly. "Jamie, honey, I was gone about five minutes."

"Oh."

She pursed her lips.

"'M tired."

"I know you're tired, so let's get you to your room, then you can sleep, okay?"

"What about school? You should probably call in. And call Mason. He'll be worried when I don't show up. And he'll have to get my homework for me," Jamie let himself ramble sleepily.

"Jamie, sweetie, it's Saturday. There is no school," his mom said softly.

"Oh."

"Now, you need to sleep, okay? I can't lift you on my own, so you're going to have to help. Can you try to stand up for me?"

Leaning heavily on her, Jamie managed to stand up and walk the short distance to his room where he saw his bed freshly made and clean clothes at the foot. He noticed that his room was considerably darker than before and he saw that his blinds were closed. His mom really was a blessing.

Energy drained, Jamie flopped onto the bed and just looked at the clothing. The effort needed to change was too much for the little energy he had, but he knew he would feel better wearing them, so he just sat there pouting at them until his mom spoke up.

"Are you wanting me to leave you to change or are you wanting help?"

Jamie just turned his pouting up to her.

Her lips twitched into a small fond smile and she brushed his hair out of his face.

It took a few minutes more than it should have to get out of the sweaty clothes because his body didn't seem to want to cooperate. But he was soon sitting there in just his boxers as his mom put his old shirt and pants in the laundry basket with his sheets.

"Alright," she held up the clean clothes. "Step two: getting these on."

Getting the clean shirt on didn't take as much time, but when she went to put on the pants he whined.

"No pants."

"Are you sure?"

He nodded. "Hot."

"Okay, if you're sure."

Jamie flopped down to lay down, and immediately let out a loud groan as his head throbbed.

"Oh, sweetie," her fingers through his hair helped make the pain go away.

When it was more bearable, she helped him pull the covers out from under him and got him tucked in.

"I'm going to go get some medicine, but I'll be right back okay?"

Jamie nodded and she pressed a kiss to his forehead before she left the room.

"Here," his mom said as she came back in his room a few moments later with a small bottle and a plastic tub in her hands. "Take this and it should help you feel better."

Jamie let out a whine when he saw which bottle of medicine it was.

"I know, I know, but it'll help you, I promise," she said sympathetically as she sat on the edge of his bed. "This," she held up the tub, "is for if you have to throw up again, okay?" She put it on the ground.

Jamie watched warily as she poured the medicine in the cap and held it out to him. He reluctantly took it from her, took a deep breath before downing it as quickly as he could. As soon as he finished swallowing he started coughing, lightly at first, but soon it turned into a violent coughing fit.

When it calmed down he lay back on his pillow, panting, as his mom rubbed his chest and ran her fingers through his sweaty hair soothingly.

After a few moments, Jamie mumbled out "'m cold."

"I'll go scrounge up some more blankets. Are you hungry? I can go make some soup for you."

"Chicken noodle?" Jamie rasped out wanting the comfort of his favourite soup.

"Of course," she smiled as she ran her fingers through his hair one last time before getting up.

"Thank you. I love you," Jamie said as she picked up the laundry basket.

"I love you, too," she said as she kissed his forehead before leaving his room.

While waiting for his mom to come back with the blankets and soup, Jamie felt himself slide in and out of consciousness as he dozed.

"Hey, man." Jamie started awake when he heard a voice coming from his doorway. Jamie flopped his head over to see Mason walk in with a bowl in his hands. "Are you okay? How are you feeling? Your mom said you're sick with a really high fever and gave me this soup to bring you. She wasn't sure if you were awake, though. You were asleep when she brought the blankets. So I guess we're not seeing that movie tonight. But that's okay. Are you feeling better after your nap?"

"Mmm," Jamie mumbled as most of what Mason said went in one ear and out the other.

He pulled his arms out from the many layers of blankets. He stared at them until Mason's words sunk in and he realized that these were the blankets that his mom brought. Huh, he didn't think he fell asleep long enough or deep enough to not even notice when she came in. Deciding to ignore that, he continued to sit up when an ice pack fell from his head. He stopped to look at it, then slowly managed to get himself sitting upright and leaning against the headboard. That was uncomfortable and hard against his back so he leaned forward and tried awkwardly to prop a pillow up in between.

After a few moments of struggling, a hand came out of nowhere to help him, and he realized, embarrassingly, that when his clouded mind could only focus if he concentrated on the task at hand, he'd forgotten about the other person in the room.

He was finally settled, though, and he yawned as he rubbed his eyes before blinking a few times to focusing on the boy in front of him.

"Is that my shirt?"

"...what?" Jamie croaked out, his foggy mind not processing the words spoken to him as he was caught off guard.

Mason pointed at him. "Is that my favourite shirt that I've been looking for the past week?"

"Umm," Jamie looked down to see a super soft, light gray, vintage shirt. "Maybe?"

His voice was still scratchy and he put a hand to his chest as he tried to clear his throat a few times, but that just made it tingle, which in turn made him start coughing again.

A hand was pressed to his forehead as a glass of water was pushed into his hands and he managed to get in a few sips between coughs. The water was soothing for his parched throat.

"When your mom said you were sick, I didn't expect you to be this bad."

"I feel like 'm dying," Jamie groaned.

Mason chuckled but his eyes betrayed how worried he felt. "You're not that bad."

"How d'y'know?" He slurred.

Mason just gave him a blank stare.

Jamie just groaned.

"Here," Mason was picking up the bowl of soup from Jamie's side table. "Have some of this."

Jamie picked up the spoon, but when he almost dropped it, Mason took it from him. "Here, let me."

"What? I c'n eat."

"Sure, if you consider spilling soup all over your bed as eating."

Jamie tried to glare at the Latino, but his stare was broken when he sneezed.

"Jamie," Mason said firmly.

Jamie thought about how weak his arms felt and "...fine," reluctantly let the other feed him his soup.

Mason had this odd look on his face the few times Jamie was able to gather enough courage to look at his face. He couldn't meet his eyes, though.

It didn't take too long for Jamie to finish his soup, but he was embarrassed about being fed like a child, and he could only hope that it would look like his cheeks were only red from his fever.

When the bowl was back on his table, Jamie nestled his way back down into his nest of blankets, wanting nothing more than to hide from Mason. That was a new feeling, and one he didn't like.

As he was getting settled in, Jamie felt his eyes starting to droop, so he got settled in for a nap. When he realized that he didn't hear Mason leave he peeked over his blankets he was surprised to see Mason making himself comfortable at his desk and taking a book and a binder out of his bag.

"You don't have to stay."

"I'm not leaving."

"But-"

"Jamie. I'll be fine. 'Sides, I've got this book that I need to read for AP English."

Jamie tried to get comfortable but found it difficult with how hot it was under all the blankets.

They were sitting there in silence, minus for Jamie's shifting around when the blond suddenly flung the blankets off of himself.

Mason looked up from the book. "Jamie?"

"'M hot," he groaned out.

"Well, that's too bad," Mason said as he got up and fixed the blankets back to where they were draped over him. "You're going to have to suffer through it until your fever breaks."

Jamie let out a high whine.

He shuffled around until his feet were propped against the wall, out from under the blankets, and his head was at the edge of the mattress.

It was quiet again for a few moments until Jamie huffed.

Mason looked up. "Yes?"

"'M bored," Jamie complained as he pouted, looking at the other as his head hung upside down off the edge.

"Well, you're not leaving your bed, so," he trailed off as he shrugged. "You shouldn't hang your head like that. It'll hurt your head even more."

He was right, of course, so Jamie flipped over (slowly, cause his head was still pounding) to properly look at Mason. They just stared at each other for a few seconds before Jamie blurted out; "Read me some of your book."

"What?" Mason sounded caught off guard. "You sure? I thought you didn't like Shakespeare."

"I don't," Jamie shrugged as he kept looking at Mason expectantly.

"Um, okay. You want me to start from the beginning, I guess?"

"Doesn't matter," Jamie shrugged again. "Continue where you are, you'll get further that way."

"Even though you'll be lost?"

"I'd be lost anyway."

"Okay." Mason started reading from the page he was on, and he was right (again), because Jamie was totally lost, more than if he started from the beginning. So, instead of trying to figure it out, Jamie closed his eyes, tuned out what Mason was saying, and just listened to the sound of Mason's voice.

* * *

When Jamie next had a coherent thought, he noticed that Mason wasn't reading out loud anymore.

He wanted to lift his head, wanted to open his eyes to check the time or to look at Mason, check if he was still there, but found both his head and eyelids too heavy to lift or open. So he nuzzled into his pillow and let himself drift off again.

* * *

The next time Jamie woke up, he was more awake than the last time.

He was facing the wall when he opened his eyes, so he rolled over, only to find Mason already looking at him. Jamie felt himself jerk back at the unexpected stare.

"Sorry, I heard your breath lighten up, so I knew you were awake."

Jamie wasn't sure if he heard him right. "Dude, what?" His voice thick with sleep. Then he noticed that his nose was stuffed up. "Aw, shit."

Mason raised an eyebrow.

"Can't breath through my nose," he explained.

"Ah, okay. Yeah, definitely sound like it." He grabbed a tissue box and passed it to Jamie along with his garbage can. "Here."

"Thanks," Jamie accepted the items and blew his nose a couple times before giving up after dirtying a bunch of tissues without successfully clearing his nose.

He groaned as he dropped the dirty tissues in the trash and put the box beside him on the bed.

"How long was I asleep?" Jamie asked as he turned back to Mason who shrugged.

"About an hour and a half."

"Waz the time?"

"Almost one." Mason put a bookmark in his AP book. He was a lot further than when he started to read to Jamie.

Jamie closed his eyes and groaned as he felt a stabbing-like pain forming just above his eyes. He rubbed his forehead, but it just made it worse.

"What's wrong?"

"Headache."

"I'll go get you something to help."

Jamie kept his eyes closed and listened as Mason got up and walked out of his room and down the hall to the bathroom.

Jamie didn't really like that Mason had to take care of him, but at the same time, he liked when Mason's attention was on him and him alone. Mason was probably bored, though. How could watching someone lay sick in bed be anything but?

Part of Jamie wanted to tell Mason to just go and spend his time wisely, but then someone else would have to take care of Jamie. His mom was probably busy with the girls (he was surprised that they hadn't barged in and climbed on him yet), and that each was a handful on their own. To throw a sick Jamie in the mix would not help matters. Jamie amused himself for a second that he would take care of himself, but that got shut down right away. There was no way Mason would leave Jamie alone to take care of himself.

His best friend knew where all the medication and first aid kit was better than Jamie did. Between the two of them, it was always Jamie who got injured in some way when growing up. He was just naturally clumsy as he tripped over roots, and got hit with branches and scraped his knees when climbing trees or rocks.

It was as he was thinking this that he felt something cold on his forehead. Jamie jumped, startled at the unexpected touch, and opened his eyes to see that Mason had returned with a few bottles and an ice pack, which was the cold thing on his head.

"This," Mason held up one of the bottles, "is for the headache. The rest are for coughing, sneezing, sore throat, stuffy/runny nose, back pains, neck pains, other body pains and aches, dizziness, lightheadedness, and other general fever symptoms."

Jamie starred as Mason put the other bottles on his bedside table. "I didn't know we had all of those?" It ended up more as a question, as in, where did Mason find all of them?

Mason chuckled lightly as he opened the bottle left in his hand and dumped out two pills. "If you took a look in your medicine cabinet once in a while, you'd know. Here, take these with some water," Mason said as he passed over the pills and the glass of water that was already beside his bed, though the water was cold.

As Jamie swallowed them down, he also saw that the empty bowl from his soup was gone.

Mason, seeing where Jamie was looking, quickly explained. "I took the bowl, glass and warm ice pack downstairs when I left, and filled the cup and grabbed the new pack before coming back up to get the medicine from the bathroom." He took the cup from Jamie and set it back on the table.

Mason was a blessing and Jamie had no idea what he did to deserve a best friend as great as the one he had sitting in front of him.

"You were yourself, dude. You're my best friend and I like taking care of you, okay? You don't need to wonder why."

"Oh… did I-?"

"Say that out loud? Yeah, you did. You should rest for a bit. Let the medicine kick in."

Jamie sighed as he nodded, closing his eyes and leaning back into his pillows.

They were quiet for a few minutes before Jamie spoke again. "Were you wanting to do something?" He asked without opening his eyes.

"Dude, you're hella sick. You're not leaving this bed."

"Mmm okay." Jamie didn't even try to argue that point. He was quiet for a whole 3 seconds before asking; "Wanna watch a movie? I won't leave my bed, I promise." Was he asking permission to watch a movie in his own room? Jamie wasn't sure.

"Okay," Mason said after a moment. "Anything in particular?"

Jamie opened his eyes and slowly pushed himself up. He pushed the blankets off and swung his legs over the side.

"Hey, man, you shouldn't be getting up," Mason said as he brought his feet down from where they were resting on Jamie's desk.

Jamie disregarded his best friend's words and stood up anyways, almost falling over from dizziness when he tried to take a step.

"Jamie?" Mason's voice was firmer this time as he caught Jamie on his way to the floor, arms tight around his waist. How'd he get up quick enough to catch him?

"Laptop," was all Jamie said to explain as he pressed his face into Mason's shoulder. He felt like a ragdoll the way he was hanging limply in his best friend's arms.

"I could've gotten it. You promised you'd stay in bed," his tone was soft again as he lowered Jamie onto his bed, pushing him down and pulling the blankets back over him. "Where is it?"

"Backpack."

In no time, Mason had his laptop and was climbing over Jamie onto the other side of the bed.

"What're you… ?" Jamie trailed off his question.

"Shh, it'll be easier to watch this way."

"But-"

"Jamie. Do you trust me?"

"Yeah," Jamie replied without hesitation.

"Then just sit back and relax."

"But I'm sick. I'll get you sick too," Jamie protested anyways. "And then who'll take care of you? I'll still be sick, and you'll be sick, and it'll be gross," he went on. He was rambling and he knew it. Jamie rambled a lot and being sick always turned off what was left of his terrible brain-to-mouth filter.

"I'll be fine. You know it takes a lot to get me sick."

It was true. Mason didn't get sick very often. But then again, Jamie was worse than he's ever been.

He looked over to see that Mason had already logged onto his laptop - they had accounts on each other laptops for this reason - and was pulling up Netflix.

Knowing there was no swaying Mason, Jamie sighed and leaned back and watched as Mason flipped through the lists of shows and movies. He was still a bit dizzy from standing up, and the quick changing of movie titles and pictures weren't helping any, so Jamie closed his eyes and let Mason find something to watch.

"What sort of things are you wanting?"

Jamie vaguely felt like this wasn't the first time Mason asked him this question.

"Uh, something light? 'M too out of it for anything substantial."

"Substantial? That's a bit word for you. Especially like this."

"Oh, Shuddup." Jamie tried to shove Mason, but he didn't have enough energy to put much power behind it, so his fist just ended up flopping uselessly against his arm. Jamie was tired, so he just let it sit there without any intention of moving it. Was Mason's bicep always this firm? It kinda felt nice.

Whoa, that was kinda gay, wasn't it? Jamie tried to not be around Mason; he didn't know how he'd react. Despite the majority of him telling him to move his hand, Jamie ignored it. He was too tired and sick for that.

"Dragons?"

What? Oh, the movie. Right.

"Sure."

Jamie opened his eyes to see Mason clicking on the 'How To Train Your Dragon: Race To The Edge.'

As they watch as Hiccup and his friends going on adventures with their dragons and the Dragon Eye, Jamie finds himself drifting in and out of focus as he tried to not fall asleep. He kept missing parts and coming to only to realize that the characters were dealing with a new dragon each time.

Pretty soon, Mason noticed that Jamie wasn't really watching the show. That was probably because his head had somehow ended up on Mason's shoulder. Jamie sat up quickly and his vision swam for a few seconds before straightening out.

Mason was looking at him worriedly.

"'M fine," Jamie answered the silent question.

"C'mere," Mason said quietly, gently pulling Jamie so that he was half laying on him with his head once again resting against his shoulder. "Just relax." One of Mason's arms was around his back and was tracing invisible patterns on his arm.

Normally, Jamie didn't let himself cuddle into Mason like this even though he wanted to so badly, but instead of backing away and putting space between them, he pushed those feelings aside and decided to indulge himself in this only this once. He was too out of it to care.

In no time at all, Jamie felt himself slipping away again and this time, Jamie let himself go.


	2. Chapter 2

As the sick boy drifted off, Mason kept running his fingertips lightly up and down his arm in what he hoped was a comforting gesture. He ran his other hand through the sweaty blond locks, pushing the hair back up and out of Jamie's face.

Mason took this time to look examine his best friend.

When he first arrived that morning, looking forward to some fun on his day off, he hadn't expected to see Jamie's mom in the kitchen so distracted. He'd checked in on her, of course, because she wasn't usually like that. When she said Jamie was running a fever of 102.6 Mason had panicked a little as well.

"I don't understand how it came on so quickly!" She had cried, near tears. "And I've got the girls to look after because their daycare is closed on the weekend and Frank's away, so I just don't know how I can look after him and the girls. The girls need a lot of attention and kept busy, but Jamie is my baby, too, and I don't want to push one aside to be with the other, I can't push one aside to be with the other, because they all need me and-"

"Carrie," Mason interrupted. He didn't usually use her first name, but he had to try and get her to focus so she could calm down and not work herself into a panic. Well, a worse one, anyways. "I see where Jamie get his rambling tendencies from, though he rambles more than you." She let out a nervous, breathless laugh. "Down, worry, I'll take care of him. You focus on the girls, and I can focus on him, and everything will be fine."

He's seen Jamie sick before (how could he not, considering they've known each other for forever) and he's always been dramatic, but he's never seen the blond this sick before. The boy was totally out of it, spacing out randomly and rambling nonsense.

Mason continued running his hand through Jamie's hair over and over again, wondering if the boy would ever survive without him.

He thought of all the times growing up when they'd be in the backyard and Jamie would end up finding some way to accidentally hurt himself. They'd be out on an adventure and as soon as he heard an 'ow' or whimper, Mason would rush over and demand to see the 'boo boo'. Mason would then proceed to tell Jamie to stay where he was before running inside to get a bandage. As they got older, Mason got better and better at fixing Jamie up.

When Jamie broke his arm from falling from a tree, Mason had worried himself sick and cried when he realized that putting the bandage on Jamie's arm hurt Jamie even more. (He didn't realize at the time that it was because where the bone had broken left the area sore and tender to any touch, and not because he was doing something wrong or that it was his fault that Jamie was in more pain.) He cried again when Jamie's mom told him that Jamie would have to get fixed up by a doctor at the hospital and that he couldn't fix Jamie himself. Mason refused to leave Jamie's side the whole time he was in the hospital.

After that incident, rather than slapping on a band-aid (while being careful, cause Mason never liked to hurt his best friend), Mason would then start to be extra careful and gentle when cleaning up any wounds.

And here he was, laying in bed with Jamie as he took care of him once again.

There were times when part of Mason considered studying medicine at college so he could properly take care of Jamie, but then a different part realized that he'd be leaning to take care of other people and not his blond friend. He'd then dismiss the thought until the next time he was taking care of Jamie and was constantly wondering how he could be better at his job.

Mason paused his movement, fingers still in Jamie's hair, and looked at what Jamie was wearing. His favourite light gray shirt fell slowly around the smaller frame, neckline sliding down off his shoulder slightly. It looks so good on him. Mason never knew how much he'd love seeing his clothes on Jamie and couldn't help himself when he leaned forward, pressing a quick kiss to his forehead before resuming the action of running his fingers through the blond locks.

He loved Jamie's hair. It was usually styled in the just-got-out-of-bed look (Mason's seen him style it that way more times than he could count) and honestly? Both the real just-woke-up and styled just-woke-up were so hot. Jamie's bed head was so adorable and the styled look was so sexy and Mason wanted to run his fingers through it all the time. He didn't get to touch it very often, not like this, but when he did, it was always so soft and smelled amazing.

He tried to get in as much hair touching as he could, messing it up as a hello or goodbye gesture and soothing Jamie after he got injured in some way were the two most common when Jamie wouldn't question it.

Suddenly Mason realized that the episode was still playing from where it had slid off of his lap when he pulled Jamie down to sleep.

A few episodes later, Mason found himself nodding off as well. Rather than trying to stay awake to watch it, he closed the laptop and, careful as to not wake Jamie (though that'd be difficult in his state. Seriously, the boy could sleep through a war if he wanted to, and that's when he's his normal perky self), Mason reached over the sleeping boy to put the computer and his glasses on the bedside table.

Mason settled back into Jamie's pillows and pulled the blankets higher over the koala clinging tightly to him. Jamie wasn't usually so cuddly and it was so adorable to watch him push his face into Mason's neck. The steady warm puffs of air on his neck were soothing (though it kind of tickled a bit) and Mason rested his cheek on Jamie's unruly sweaty mop of hair.

Mason pressed another kiss on the top of Jamie's head before he closed his eyes and relished in the warmth of Jamie's body pressed against his own.

* * *

Jamie woke to fingers running through his hair.

"Mom?" He asked without opening his eyes.

Jamie heard a chuckle. "No. No, I'm not your mom, buddy."

He blearily tried to connect the familiar voice with a face or name. There were only two people who played with his hair (not counting his baby sisters' harsh tugs); his mom and…

"Mace?"

"Yeah, it's me. Are you feeling better?"

Jamie groaned but started to say; "Yeah, I-" when he got cut off by his stomach twisting, suddenly and sharply.

He flung himself to the edge of his bed (nearly falling off) and barely had enough time to grab the bucket before his stomach clenched again, emptying itself of its contents. There wasn't much in his stomach in the first place, but that didn't stop his body from heaving for several minutes longer than Jamie found necessary.

Afterwards, he lay there panting until his fuzzy mind cleared enough for him to notice his surroundings. Or, more specifically, the hand that was rubbing up and down his back as he tried to catch his breath.

"Mnnnnnggghhh," Jamie groaned. "My back hurts," he complained as he let Mason carefully roll him over again so he was flat on his back, properly on the bed now.

"Better?"

Jamie groaned and flopped his head back and forth for a second before stopping because it hurt his head even more. He let out a whine and pressed his face into Mason's arm.

"What's wrong?" Mason asked.

"My head hurts."

"I'll go get you another ice pack."

"Mmm no." Jamie grabbed Mason as he tried to leave the bed. "Stay."

"Jamie, my dude, you need an ice pack. The cold will help your head."

"No," he said again. "Stay." He was being childish and he knew it, he just didn't care.

"James Peterson," Mason said firmly as though he were speaking to a child throwing a temper tantrum. "I need to get you an ice pack otherwise your head will continue to hurt, you will be in pain, you won't get better and this fever could get worse. Or, you can let me go and I can help you feel better. You won't even notice I'm gone."

"I always notice when you're gone," Jamie pouted but let Mason go, and instead, he threw his own arm across his eyes.

With his eyes closed and covered, he didn't see the shocked-turned-to-fond look Mason sent his way.

He did feel the shift of the mattress as the extra body left the bed and heard the click of the door closing.

He lay there for a few minutes trying to regulate his breathing before he noticed that his nose had become stuffed up at some point. That would explain why his breathing was all out of whack.

Every breath in - sniffle in - cause the pressure at the bridge of his nose between his eyes to throb.

What did he do to get this sick?

He couldn't remember what happened the previous day. He didn't even know what day it was.

All he knew was that he was sick. He's sick and he's home and Mason's with him.

Where was Mason? What is he doing? What was taking him so long?

Maybe he'd go looking for him.

Jamie started to sit up but stopped when his vision swam and his head pounded. Oh, god, it was awful. He eased back onto his pillow.

His mouth was dry. How long-? It didn't matter.

Jamie turned to see a cup with some water beside his bed.

Slowly, Jamie tried to ease himself up onto his elbows again and held himself still until his vision cleared.

It took three tries until Jamie's fingers held onto the glass enough for him to pick it up.

He managed to get a couple swallows which felt heavenly on his parched throat.

Suddenly his hand twitched, spilling the rest of the water all over his face and bed.

Jamie promptly felt like crying.

He knew he was overreacting, but he was tired and he was hurting and now he was wet and all he wanted to do was sleep and cuddle with Mason, but now his bed was wet and Mason was nowhere to be found.

Jamie flopped back onto his bed before crying out at the rush of agony. He was holding his head and his breaths were coming out in staggering gasps.

He realized, dimly, that at some point he had let the cup fall somewhere. Maybe his bed. Maybe the floor. He didn't care.

His head was throbbing and there was a stabbing pain through his neck and shoulders and his back was so tight.

"Jamie?" Came a soft voice from the direction of his door. "Oh, Jamie," the voice was sad and concerned now. A second later, something cold was put on his forehead and a hand was in his hair with another cupping his cheek. A thumb was stroking across his cheekbones, wiping away the tears streaming down his face.

Tears? He didn't notice that had he started to cry. Jamie didn't know what his body was doing, could hardly feeling anything other than pain.

The pain streaking through his muscles, the ache in his joints if he tried to move, his head pounding, the stabbing around his nose, and his back which felt so tight he couldn't move without crying out.

His world had been narrowed until all it contained was his aches and breaks. Slowly, he was able to divert some attention on the hands on his cheek and hair.

Physically, the touches weren't helping much, but emotionally? Jamie felt calm knowing that there was someone there with him. He didn't even know who it was, but he didn't care.

He nuzzled into their palm.

Turning his head sent a spike through his collarbone into his shoulder and he let out a wet gasp, another round of tears streaming down his face.

Strong arms wrapped him up in a loose but firm embrace. Lips pressed against his cheek, the one not cupped in the wonderfully cool hand.

Jamie tried to ignore his body's protests as he grabbed onto the arms across his chest and pull them as close as he could into him. The agony was too much and he snuggled into the person's hold as much as he could and let himself cry.

Great sobs shook his whole self, wracking through his body and soul, upping his torments and making him sob even harder.

It felt like forever before he calmed down. Distantly, Jamie was aware that there was a voice speaking to him. It sounded far away, a bit underwater-ish, but close at the same time.

Jamie dismissed it and held himself still while staying as relaxed as possible, careful to not tense up his body. The less he moved, the less intense the pain was. He'd be fine if he just didn't move.

He kept that mantra up until, eventually, his head cleared enough to start becoming aware of his surroundings.

The words were clear enough for Jamie to make out what they were.

"Jamie, Jamie, please," the voice begged. "Can you hear me? You're scaring me! What's wrong? Jamie?!" The person sounded like they were crying, desperate for Jamie to answer, to say anything.

He knows this voice. This voice was familiar. This voice was comforting.

Not his mom. It was too deep to be his mom, despite the fact that the voice was a few octaves higher than usual due to their distress.

There was only one other person.

Mason.

Mason was crying? Why was he crying?

"Mace," he gasped out, relieved that the other was back.

"Yeah." He heard a sigh of relief. Mason tucked his head into Jamie's neck, curls brushing against his chin. He smelled good.

"Yeah, it's me, buddy. What's wrong? How can I help?"

"Hurts." It was difficult to get out more than one word at a time. His chest was tight and the effort to speak left him breathless.

"I know. I know, baby," Mason sniffled.

Baby? Was Jamie sure this was Mason and not his mom? Yes, he was. Mason said he was him. Jamie thought of how the term of endearment made his heart swell and decided to not say anything or think too hard about it.

"Can you take some medicine? It'll help. I promise it will."

"Try."

"You'll try? That's enough. Here, let me grab it." Mason pulled away and immediately Jamie missed his comfort.

Mason helped Jamie sit up and take the medicine. It was gross and made Jamie cough. What started as a light just-a-tickle cough quickly turned into a hacking-up-a-lung cough.

Mason climbed back into the bed, the movement jostling Jamie. He tried to not make any noise the show that it hurt him, not because he didn't want Mason to see this side of him (it was way too late for that), but because he knew it would upset Mason to know that he had hurt him, however indirectly he hurt him.

Once settled, Mason wrapped his arms around Jamie, tugging him into his side. Jamie was compliant, letting himself be manhandled into a comfortable position for the both of them.

Still sniffling, Jamie nuzzled into his best friend as best as he could and tried to push away the pain in order to enjoy the feeling of being held by Mason and sleep off the headache.


	3. Chapter 3

Mason woke up hotter and sweating more than usual. He turned his head to look at the (hopefully? Yes he was. Good.) sleeping, feverish boy beside him and felt his heart break.

Jamie's skin was hot to the touch and he was shivering despite the fact that he was sweating like crazy and was piled with many, many blankets.

Carefully he climbed over the sick boy and immediately started fussing about, taking care of said boy.

He pulled the blankets back up, changed out the ice pack, refilled the glass of water and grabbed the thermometer to retake Jamie's temperature.

103.1 now. Definitely not good.

"How is he?"

Mason looked up to see Jamie's mom standing in the doorway.

"It's gone up by 0.5. He's thrown up again and cried because he was in so much pain. He's been falling asleep at random times and is zoning in and out when he's awake. I don't think he's even aware of that."

Carrie purses her lips. "Okay." She was silent for a few minutes just watching Jamie sleep.

"How are the girls?"

"They're missing their big brother. They didn't understand why he couldn't play with them today. I imagine this will take a while to blow over, so that'll make the girls restless. They're in bed now, at least. Tomorrow is Sunday, so that means another whole day of keeping them distracted before sending them to their daycare."

Mason focused his attention back on Jamie as they were all quiet, pushing his hair off his forehead and running his fingers across his cheekbones.

He'd forgotten that Carrie was still there until she spoke up, startling Mason out of his examination of Jamie's face.

"Thank you. Thank you so much. You're always here for him and are always helping him and it really means a lot. To the both of us. He's really lucky to have you."

"On the contrary. I'm honoured to have him. I don't know what I'd do without him."

Carrie smiled as she walked over to the two of them. "You're family, Mason. Please never forget that."

Mason felt like crying. "Thank you. That means so much to me."

She smiled and leaned down, pressing a light kiss to the top of Jamie's head before doing the same to Mason.

"You take care of him so well. I remember one time, when Jamie seven, he got hurt when you weren't here. He refused to let me look at it for half an hour because 'Mason had to make it better.'"

Mason flickered between her and Jamie in amazement. "I didn't know that," he finally whispered. "He never told me."

"He was probably embarrassed afterwards. He got hurt from running too quickly around a corner and bashed his arm into a doorknob."

Mason let out a loud laugh before slapping a hand over his mouth to muffle the sound so that he didn't disturb the sleeping blond.

While Jamie didn't wake up, he did stir and roll towards Mason, entangling their legs together, wrapping his arms around Mason's chest and tucking his face into Mason's beck.

Their whole bodies were pressed against the other, from head to toes and Mason felt his heart flutter.

"I'll leave you two alone now. Goodnight, Mason."

"Goodnight."

* * *

The next day was mostly the same as the first. Jamie threw up again, but only once this time.

Around 2 that afternoon, Mason was sitting cross-legged on the floor, leaning back on the bed and was reading more of Shakespeare out loud. Jamie had curled on his side and was completely under the blankets except for his head and one hand that was flopping out over the side of the bed. His fingers occasionally brushed against Mason's arm, sending tingles through him.

Suddenly there was a loud shriek. The girls managed to escape their mother and dart into Jamie's room, Anne Marie grinning and Elisabeth laughing the whole way. Their good mood dissipated when they saw their big brother laying sickly on the bed.

"Jamie's not feeling too well," Mason explained as he set the book down. When it looked like they were about to cry, he quickly added on; "but he'll be back up and ready to go in no time! He's just tired and needs to rest for a few days."

Elisabeth waddled over and grabbed onto where Jamie's hand was sticking out.

"Jamie?"

Anne Marie promptly sat down where she was, so Mason scooped her up and pulled her into his lap so she could be near her brother.

The girls (Elisabeth) blabbered on about their weekend so far, and Mason was content to let them until he saw the creases on Jamie's forehead.

"You okay?"

Jamie minutely shook his head to convey to Mason that, no, he wasn't doing okay, but not big enough to alert the girls that there was a problem. That they were indirectly hurting their brother.

"Hey, girls! You know how I said that Jamie isn't feeling well? I think if you made something for him, it would make him feel so much better, and he'll be so grateful to the two of you! Wouldn't you, Jamie?"

Jamie nodded his head to the best of his abilities. "'Course 'll."

Despite the fact that he was slurring like crazy, the girls seemed to understand and went running from the room to get started as soon as they could. Anne Marie sloppily kissed Jamie's hand before leaving and it was so cute. Mason couldn't help but grin at her.


	4. Chapter 4

By the time Monday morning rolled around, Mason had been at the Peterson's house for almost 48 hours. Not that this is the first time it's happened. In fact, he's once spent a whole week here during the summer.

Mason had been so focused on taking care of Jamie that it didn't even register what day it was until Carrie poked her head into the room.

"Mason? It's Monday, which means you've got to get to school."

Mason groaned. "Do I have to?"

"Yes. I won't let you miss classes because Jamie is sick. You can come back afterwards. I'd say to get homework for him, but I don't think he's in any state to do anything you bring for him. I already called the school so they know not to expect him."

"But, who will-"

"Me. The girls are going to be at daycare- could you bring them there on your way to school?- and I will take the time to properly look after my sick baby like a mother should. You've been absolutely wonderful, but I still need to help. I worry too much when I'm not."

Mason nodded dejectedly and got ready to leave, though he doubted he could focus on classes when Jamie was this bad.

"Yeah, of course. I can take them."

"Do you know where it is?"

"Yep! I've been there many times with Jamie to pick them up. It won't be too long of a walk for them?"

"Oh, right. Jamie usually drives them when I don't take them. Okay, I'll drive all three of you."

"You don't-" Mason started to say, but was cut off when Carrie gave her Mom Look.

"I will, and that's final."

* * *

Throughout the day Mason tried to focus on his classes, but his mind kept to his best friend who was laying in bed at home.

At lunch, Brodie was already at their table when Mason arrived.

"Hey, man. Do you know where Jamie is? I didn't see him in class today."

"Home. He's sick. He's got a fever of 103.1, last time I checked."

Brodie's eyes widened. "Shit, dude. Is he still alive?"

Mason flinched. "Please don't say that. I'm already stressed out enough about it. His mom kicked me out this morning, wouldn't let me skip to help get him better. She said she'd update me, but I haven't gotten a text since first period."

There was a strange look in Brodie's eyes, but Mason wasn't sure how to interpret it.

"You were at Jamie's?"

"Yeah," Mason said, albeit confusedly. "I thought you knew. Didn't I text you?"

"Yeah, that you were heading over on Saturday. Not that you were staying until Monday morning when his mom kicked you out."

"Well, that wasn't intentional. He was pretty bad, and the girls were home, so I told Carrie that I'd take care of him for her. I mean, I always have before."

"Riiight." Brodie was still giving him that odd look.

Before Mason could ask about it, Kellen joined them and, after greeting Mason, started talking to Brodie.

There was no one else to talk to at this moment (he didn't really converse with anyone other than Brodie, Kellen, and, of course, Jamie. During lunch anyway), so he pulled out his phone and sent a text to Jamie asking how he was doing.

Rather than seeing how Jamie was doing, it would be a quick check to see what level of sick Jamie was at right now. If he was doing better, he could look at his phone and possibly answer, but if not, then he wouldn't check it at all. So if he didn't get a response, Jamie may or may not be feeling better. If he did, then Jamie was doing okay.

Mason waited a few seconds before rationalizing that no matter how Jamie was doing, he probably wouldn't get any response soon. Instead, he opened the chat with Jamie's mom and texted her.

How is he?

Mason set down his phone and took one bite of his pizza before his phone pinged.

Better. He's gone down to 102.8. I got some more soup into him, but he wasn't able to keep it down. He's sleeping now, so I hope his temperature goes down again by dinnertime.

He pursed his lips in concern. He never liked it when Jamie threw up; it always made him cry. But if his temperature went down, then at least there's that.

Suddenly, and finger poking his arm, broke him out of his train of thought.

"Hey," Kellen and Brodie were looking at him. "You got this look on your face. Is he doing okay?"

"Yeah. I mean, he's a bit better. His temperature is only at 102.8, but he wasn't able to keep his food down. He's sleeping now."

Their eyebrows shot up.

"Only 102.8?" Kellen blurted out, incredulously.

"Yeah, he was at 103.1 yesterday and this morning."

"Shit, man. I'm sorry." Why was he apologizing to Mason? "Let him know we hope he gets better soon, okay?"

"Yeah, of course. But he can't really check his phone, so…" Mason trailed off.

"Oh, I meant when you go over after school. I mean, you are going over aren't you? I kinda assumed-"

"Oh! Oh, yes I am. Yeah, okay. I just thought you meant- nevermind."

"Would we stop by when it's not as bad? Do you know how this happened?" Brodie asked, and Mason was grateful for the (somewhat) change in subject.

"Yeah, I'll talk to Carrie about when that would be. And I have no idea, actually," Mason said shamefully. "It really worries me, cause how'd he get so bad so quickly? I have no idea, and I'm not sure how to help, and I don't know how to prevent this from happening again, and I just-"

"Whoa, dude," Kellen cut him off. "I'm sure he's fine and that this was a one-time fluke accident, but stressing yourself out this much isn't going to help him any. Being calm and collected helps you focus and will help you get more done in the long run."

Mason was grateful for the support, but before he could voice this, Brodie laughed and said; "Dude, have you been reading those inspirational books again?"

Kellen, always the mature one, stuck out his tongue and said; "Fuck you."

Brodie just laughed again and said; "Love you too, man."

Mason loved his friends, but some days they were just a bit much. So he simply rolled his eyes and went back to texting Carrie for the rest of lunch.

The second half of his day went much like the first. He was able to focus a bit more on his classes, now that he knew that Jamie's temperature went down some.

Before he knew it, the day was done, he had all of Jamie's homework and was outside, ready for Carrie to pick him up to bring him home again.

Soon enough, her car was pulling into the school parking lot, and Mason rushed over and climbed in the passenger seat.

"Mayn!" Came a shriek from the backseat. (A/N pronounced 'May-n'. Two syllables, not 'main'. She's trying to say his name. She's got the first part and needs to get the 'so' in there.)

Mason turned around and grinned at the two young girls in the back. "Hey, Elisabeth! Hi, Anne Marie! Don't you two look lovely today?"

They laughed and swung their arms around, and Mason reached back and gave both of them some kind of messed up high five/fist bump before turning back around to face the front.

"How was school?"

Mason felt a tightness in his chest. It was so very domestic and he wished his own family was like this. A mom picking him up from school and siblings being happy to see him. Instead, he got a family that seemed kind of distant to each other. Sometimes he felt like no one in his family really cared about how he was feeling.

"It was okay. Wasn't able to focus much, though. I got Jamie's homework. Also, Brodie and Kellen would like to come over when Jamie's feeling better, if that's alright."

"As long as Jamie's up for it, it's fine."

Mason helped get the girls inside, and as he's about to go upstairs to Jamie, a hand grabs onto his sleeve. Anne Marie.

She doesn't say anything, rather points at the table where their mother is spreading out the artwork they made during the day.

They mostly consist of flowers, hearts and sloppily drawn stick figures, but Mason can see that bigger of the three is also drawn in a bed. Jamie and the two of them.

"Are those get well cards for Jamie?"

She nodded with a huge grin on her face.

"Oh, Anne Marie, that is so sweet! I'm sure he'll love them!"

She tried to grab the pile, knocking the papers all over the floor.

"Oops! Let's get this cleaned up, girls!" Carrie said as she swooped down to pick up the scattered papers.

Anne Marie, not really listening to her mother, grabbed one page in particular and handed it to Mason.

It was upside down, so he turned it around to see that it was another drawing of Jamie in bed, but this one also had another tall person next to the bed. The person had wild, curly hair and glasses.

"Oh," Mason whispered. He knelt down so that he was at eyes level with her. "Is this supposed to be me?"

She nodded again, with a shy smile now.

"Thank you. I love it so much." He held out his arms and she threw herself into his chest. He squeezed her tight for a second before letting go, looking up to see Carrie watching them with a huge smile, tears filling her eyes. He sent her a watery smile in return before helping to pick up the remaining pictures.

"They love you, you know. You're like a brother to them. And you look after and take care and love their big brother."

"I-" He didn't know what to say. "I… I should probably get up to Jamie now. See if he's awake."

He bolted out of the kitchen and up the stairs before she could see him cry. Their words and actions were so sweet and made Mason's heart swell and he had to press the heel of his palm against his eyes.


	5. Chapter 5

Taking a moment to compose himself, Mason took a deep breath before knocking on the door in front of him.

When he didn't hear any response, Mason opened the door and peeked inside the dark room.

All he could see was Jamie's hair poking out over the top of his blankets.

He quietly walked in and stood over the sleeping boy. He put the back of his hand against Jamie's forehead, feeling the intense heat.

It was when Mason was placing the new, cold ice pack on him did the blond's eyes flutter open.

"Hey, Mace." He closed his eyes and leaned into Mason's touch. "Thought you're at school. Mom said-" he broke off with a cough.

"Yeah, I went to school, but it's over now." Jamie hummed. "I talked to Brodie and Kellen at lunch," he said as he sat down in the chair next to Jamie's head. "They want to know if they can come over when you're feeling better. Well, less shitty, I guess." Jamie paused a moment and Mason quickly added on; "they don't have to if you don't want them to."

"No, no. It's okay. Yeah, they can come in a few days. Hopefully."

Mason ran his fingers through Jamie's sweaty locks, receiving a pleased, blissed out look on his face as Jamie turned his head into Mason's hand. When the ice pack began to slip, Mason quickly caught it.

Despite the fact that Mason was holding it, Jamie stuck a whole arm out to adjust it to where he wanted it, tucking the blanket under his armpit and oh…

People always make jokes about shoulders being sexy when teachers entire the dress codes at school and Mason has always chuckled and rolled his eyes along with everyone else.

Now though? Now he could see that Jamie wasn't wearing a shirt and his pale, freckled shoulder and arm was poking out from under the blankets and Mason was definitely attracted.

He quickly tried to think of something else.

"I have the work you missed today."

Jamie wrinkled his nose in distaste. "Bleh."

Mason laughed. "I know."

They were silent and still for a few moments before Jamie grabbed his hand and Mason felt his heart jump into his throat.

He was just moving it to his hair again, though, and Mason had to take a second to get his breathing regular again.

Jamie drifted in and out a few times while Mason was there petting his hair.

Mason had been staring at where Jamie's clammy hand was still wrapped around his wrist when the other suddenly rolled onto his side - away from Mason, dragging him along - and curled up.

Over the top of the blankets, Mason could see Jamie's freckled back and shoulder blades. It was adorable and Mason would have loved it, if not for the odd angle of his wrist.

Mason propped himself on an elbow on the bed behind Jamie with his other arm to take some of the tension off.

"Hey, buddy. You doing okay?"

Jamie nodded for a second before pausing, then shaking his head. "'m cold."

"You're sweating like crazy, bud," Mason said sadly. Jamie's got to be feeling awful if he feels cold while sweating this much. "Would a bath help you feel better?"

Jamie thought for a second before nodding again. "Hot."

"Of course. Only the best for you." He started to stand up, but the hand still around his wrist tightened and Jamie rolled himself over and threw his arms around Mason's neck before he could go anywhere. "Jamie? I have to go get your bath ready," he protested halfheartedly. He wanted Jamie to cling to him like this on a regular day.

Jamie just nodded, his flushed and very hot cheek pressed against Mason's, hair brushing his face.

Mason lifted himself up, hoping that Jamie would let go, but he tightened his hold, clinging on like a koala instead. He had to lean on both hands on the bed to hold both of them up.

The blanket fell around Jamie's waist and Mason could see his chest. His deliciously, sweaty chest.

No. No, Mason really needed to stop these kinds of thoughts. They weren't appropriate, especially at a time like this.

"Are you wanting to come to the bathroom with me while I get it ready?"

Jamie hummed in confirmation and moved his head from next to Mason's to tucked into his neck.

Mason sighed. "Okay, come on. Up we get," he encouraged as he wrapped his arms around Jamie's waist and hauling him up and out of the bed.

When they were both standing properly, well, considering that Jamie was still draped over Mason, he noticed that the sweaty blond was only in his boxers. In his sweaty boxers that were damp and climbing to his body (don't think about that, don't think about that, don't think about that).

Together they stumbled the short distance to the bathroom and Mason got Jamie to sit on the closed toilet seat, finally getting him to let him go.

As I get the water running, Jamie slouches and looks like he'll fall asleep right here.

I've kept the lights off, but there some light from the hallway that makes it so that I can see how he's doing, without him hiding under all those blankets.

The hallway light is reflecting on his wet body and he looks gorgeous lit up and silhouetted by the lights and Mason wished that he was seeing Jamie like this for a different reason.

His feet are pressed tightly together, as is the rest of his legs, as though it's winter and he's in shorts, trying to keep his legs warm. His arms are wrapped around his middle and his shoulders are hunched in. His head is tucked in and his face is scrunched up. He's way too tense to be relaxed right now. The longer his muscles are flexed like this, the more they'll be sore later on. He should probably get him in the water soon.

Mason looked over to see that the bathtub was only half filled, so he sat on the edge of the tub next to the toilet and pulled Jamie over so that he was leaning sideways into him.

Immediately, the boy curled up, pressing himself further into Mason as though trying to absorb as much warmth from the Latino that he could. Mason could feel how violently the (extremely) sweaty boy was shivering, so he rubbed his hands up and down Jamie's arms and chest and thighs.

They waited the rest of the time like that, Mason gently rocking the sick boy to keep him as relaxed as he could.

Soon I see that the tub is full enough and stick a hand in to test the temperature.

"It's a little hot, but is that okay, or are you wanting to wait for it to cool a little?"

"Hot."

"Okay."

He shouldn't be in there with his dirty boxers so he should take them off, which means that Mason should be leaving now.

He voices this to Jamie, who's only response is to grip his hand tight and say; "No. Stay."

"Um, are you sure?"

"Please?"

And who is Mason to deny this boy of what he wants?

"Okay. Um. How about I, um, how are we going to do this? What if I hold you steady while you get your boxers off, and, um, I'll keep my eyes closed, and we can get you in the tub, okay? I won't look, I promise."

"Don't care."

Wait, what? What didn't he care about? If he helped him stay standing up? Or, or if he looked? Mason wanted to, god did he want to, but no. He couldn't. It wouldn't be right.

"Um, right."

Eventually, they clumsily get Jamie undressed and in the water, Mason's face feeling like it's on fire the whole time.

As Jamie sunk into the water, he let out a sigh of relief that Mason was grateful to hear. Mason will accept any form of comfort offered to the other boy.

Jamie quickly got settled in the tub, his hands still clinging to Mason's, and once again, he curled up tightly. He was leaning against the side of the tub and rested his head on where they were holding hands.

After a few minutes, Mason slid down to sit on the floor so that he was mirroring Jamie.

They sat there, not moving or saying anything until Mason finally broke the relaxed silence. "Are you wanting me to wash you? Body or hair or whatever?"

Jamie paused before he nodded. "Please?"

"Okay. I can do that." Mason said. "Um, both? All of you?"

Jamie nodded again.

Carefully, Mason tugged his hands out of Jamie's, running a hand through his hair in an apology when he let out a whine in protest.

He dunked his hands in the water to get them damp as considered what he'd start with.

He grabbed Jamie's favourite shampoo bottle and poured a small blob on his hand, rubbing them together before lathering his hair.

Mason was using a bit of pressure when rubbing the shampoo into his scalp, occasionally using his nails, and it was all going fine until Jamie fucking moaned.

Mason froze, unsure of how to proceed. There was suddenly a tightness in his pants that would definitely not go away if Jamie continued to make obscene noises like that.

Then Jamie tilted his head back to peer at Mason through his eyelashes.

"Why'd y' stop?" He asked innocently.

"Um, I didn't, um, I mean, uh, never mind," he stumbled over the words to get a proper thought out.

Face burning red, Mason started to wash Jamie's hair again, painfully aware of how Jamie pressed his head into Mason's hands further and how his eyes fluttered shut. The way his head was tilted exposed the side of his neck and Mason wanted to bite at it.

He really needed to stop these thoughts from happening. Stop them from going anywhere. Mason took a deep breath and focused on something, anything else.

They got through the rest of Jamie's hair with him moaning only two times more.

Mason tilted Jamie's head back and was amazed all over again of how compliant Jamie was being.

Scooping up a handful of water, Mason poured it over his head to rinse out the soap suds, careful to not getting any water in his face.

And now… Now he has to wash the rest of Jamie's body.

Okay. Okay, he could do this. He'd be rubbing his hands up and down his crush's body while said crush was naked in the bathtub. No big deal. Right?

These kinds of thoughts weren't helping any, so Mason tried to think of it in a different way. From Jamie's perspective.

Jamie, who was sick and hurting and just wanting comfort of a bath from his best friend. It would make him feel better. This is about Jamie, not Mason. He would do anything for Jamie, so without further adieu, Mason grabbed the soap and started running it up and down Jamie's arm before he could overthink the situation any more.

Jamie's skin was so soft to the touch and Mason couldn't help but wonder if he used some kind of moisturizer that he didn't know about.

He stared at all the freckles dancing beautifully across Jamie's skin. He'd always loved how they look like stars decorating his body. There were so many tiny ones that he hadn't noticed before; he hadn't been able to stare while being this close before.

Mason focused on keeping his mind blank while washing Jamie's torso, feeling the shapes of his muscles. He was going slower the lower he went on Jamie's body, but to avail, when he touched something he hasn't meant to touch.

Mason froze, but Jamie didn't visibly react, so he quickly moved on to the pale legs curled up close to the now clean chest.

In no time, he's done washing the boy and he stands up, turning around to grab a towel. When he sees Jamie's face, though, he could see that the other was asleep and his heart warmed.

The water is still hot, so Mason scans his brain to think of something he could do while Jamie was in the bathroom.

He wandered back into Jamie's room and looked around. He looked to the bed and saw the mess of blankets and sheets. Mason knew that Jamie always liked a clean bed after having a bath on the nights that he pampers himself. Jamie had no idea that Mason knows about those nights and would deny it if Mason ever brought it up.

So he grabbed the sheets, and upon feeling the dirty, sweaty dampness, Mason knew that Jamie would not feel comfortable climbing in this bed. No wonder he felt cold despite the abundance of blankets.

Thankfully, he knew where the Petersons kept their linen and had the bed changed in no time.

When Mason got back to the bathroom, Jamie was still sleeping, so he kneels down and gently shakes his shoulders.

Eventually, Jamie's eyes start to flutter open and he blinks blearily up at Mason.

"C'mon, buddy. I changed your sheets, and the water is going to start getting cold and you'll want to climb in bed while you're all nice and warm."

It took a few seconds for Mason's words to process in Jamie's foggy head, if his lack of reaction was anything to go by.

Thinking that the sick boy would get out of the water, Mason turned around to grab the towel on to face the tub again to see that the other had sunk further into the water. Now he was in to his chin.

Mason supposed that there was no harm if Jamie didn't get out at this instant, but he figured they both would be more comfortable in his bed. Or room, in general. Mason didn't want to overstay his welcome in Jamie's bed. He knew that the other would just let his irritation simmer and not say anything. Jamie wouldn't kick him out, but that didn't mean that he wanted him in bed with him all the time. Either way, he didn't want to stay on the cold bathroom floor.

"Jamie," Mason protested without much fire. "C'mon, please? You'll feel good, I promise." When that didn't get him out he added on; "I won't cuddle with you if you don't get out." He figured it was worth a shot.

It must've been enough of a threat to Jamie because he immediately stuck his arms out to Mason, looking like his younger sisters when they wanted to be picked up.

"What are you, five?" Mason muttered under his breath, but inside his stomach fluttered with how adorable Jamie was being. So he scooped up the other and pulled him out onto the edge of the tub with Jamie's legs still on the inside, like riding a horse side saddle.

He unplugged the drain and picked up the towel again to start drying Jamie's hair. When he was done, it stuck up at all angles and Mason couldn't keep the smile off his face. So cute.

Mason quickly worked on towelling off the rest of Jamie's torso before pulling his legs to the outside of the tub. He got to work on Jamie's legs and he looked up to ask Jamie how he was doing when his breath got caught in his chest. His face was right in front of Jamie's crotch and he was suddenly reminded that Jamie didn't have anything on.

Mason threw himself away as if he'd been burned. He kept his wide eyes trained on the floor. He didn't dare look at Jamie to see how he reacted.

"Mace?" He heard Jamie ask in a small, scared voice.

Mason wanted to say that it was okay, that it wasn't his fault, but he didn't know what to say so he just squeezed his eyes shut and wordlessly thrust the towel in Jamie's direction.

Silently, it was taken from his hands and he sat there not saying anything as he heard Jamie dry the rest of himself off.

Jamie must've stood up when finished because he grunted as Mason heard a light thump. Instinctively he looked up to see that Jamie had fallen sideways into the wall, and was holding himself up with the towel rack. He also saw that the towel was wrapped securely around his waist and held closed with a tight fist.

Just as quickly, Mason looked away, back to the ground, but he stood up and wrapped the arm on the towel rack around his shoulder.

They walked back to the bedroom, the silence broken only when Jamie said; "'M sorry."

Mason felt his heart break at the upset tone of Jamie's voice. He sounded close to tears. He didn't think that Jamie would cry, however; he didn't seem that emotionally unstable right now. Jamie was strong. He'll be fine. Mason's not though. Not right now.

He didn't know what to say, so he wordlessly nodded.

It didn't take too long to get Jamie dressed and in bed, and even when he was fully clothed and under the blankets, Mason found that he still had a difficult time looking at Jamie. He could look in his general direction, but Mason still hadn't met his eyes.

He asked Jamie if he was okay now, and bolted out of the door as soon as the other nodded.

He leaned on the closed door and took a few deep breaths. He had no idea what to do; no idea how to act around his best friend which was a first. He didn't like feeling like this.


	6. Chapter 6

Jamie felt tears swell in his eyes as he heard the door latch shut.

Why did Mason run away? Was it because of _him_? What did he do wrong?

Jamie felt a sob threatening to escape his chest and he curled up tightly to keep it suppressed.

The bath had been wonderful and he loved being looked after by Mason, but why did he have to ask him to stay? He knew he'd be naked and he knew that Mason is straight but what was he hoping for? That Mason could possibly be attracted to him if he just saw him? No. No, Jamie wouldn't force himself onto his best friend like that. Besides, why would he want Mason to be attracted to him? Was it normal for someone to want their best friend to see them that way? He didn't know. What had he been thinking? Clearly, he _hadn't_ been thinking if his actions were anything to go by.

He felt a surge of self-loathing at his own selfishness. He'd asked too much of Mason, and he reached his breaking point. The point where he drew the line of things he would not do for Jamie.

Oh, god, he'd ruined their friendship just like that. He hoped Mason could forgive him because he wasn't even sure he could forgive himself.

Mason had literally thrown himself away from Jamie; was he really that repulsive? He had made his best friend so uncomfortable that he had run away as soon as he could. Jamie didn't blame him. He had tried to apologize, but Mason still didn't even look at him.

Jamie pressed a fist into his eyes and was shocked to feel that tears were streaming down his face.

He buried his face in the pillow, but it offered little comfort to his despair. He was still cold despite the abundance of blankets and pillows that were arranged just as he liked them.

He really loved Mason. He knew what Jamie wanted and liked without even having to ask.

And now he was gone because Jamie had gone and screwed up. Jamie knew now that he would never be able to come out to Mason now. If he'd reacted like that when he just saw him, what would he do if Jamie said that he was attracted to men? He didn't want to know.

His headache kept building the longer he cried, but he didn't have the energy to even try to take any medicine. Instead, he just wrapped himself tighter in the blankets and let himself cry until sleep eventually overtook him.

* * *

Carrie insisted that Mason eat dinner with them the next time she saw him.

After running out of Jamie's room, he had hidden in the bathroom where he had stood for a few minutes staring at the tub before forcing himself to turn away. He washed his face and tried to calm down. Their mutual panic had helped to calm him down _down there_.

He didn't know what to do about the whole situation. Hopefully, Jamie was still out of it and wouldn't remember any of what happened.

He must've cleaned himself up well because Carrie hadn't seemed to realize that anything was wrong when she was inviting - no, insisting that he join them for dinner.

"Oh, don't be ridiculous. You have dinner here all the time, just come eat. Besides, I made your favourite to thank you for all you've done."

After what he's done, he shouldn't be here, eating with Jamie's family like he belonged.

Throughout dinner, Mason's chest was tight with regret. He didn't know how Jamie was feeling and he ran away from him because he couldn't keep it in his pants. Figuratively, of course. There was no way he was going to jack it out after Jamie's mortification. He felt shame knowing that he ran off after seeing Jamie as exposed and vulnerable as he could be.

When they were done, Mason grabbed a plate for Jamie to see what he could eat. If Jamie had remembered what happened, Mason would apologize. If not, he would probably apologize anyway.

There was no response when he knocked on the door he slowly pushed it open.

"Jamie?"

There was still no affirmative noise to indicate that Jamie had heard him, so Mason quietly walked into the room to see if he was sleeping.

He was. Unlike the past few times that Mason had discovered Jamie sleeping, his face was scrunched up, brow furrowed, and there were tear streaks on his cheeks. They were partially dry, partially still wet.

Mason felt an uncomfortable twist in his stomach knowing that this was his fault. Unless he was crying from the amount of pain he was in like last time, which Mason didn't know which was worse.

Mason put the food down on the table and carefully climbed over the sick boy to join him in bed. He wasn't sure how much his presence would be welcome considering what he'd just put Jamie through, but Jamie seemed to like his cuddles, so he hoped that it would be more of a comfort than anything else.

From up close, Mason could see that the areas around Jamie's eyes were red and puffy, and Mason knew that only happened when Jamie cried long and hard. He felt so awful that he'd done that to his boy.

Mason lay there, holding the other close to his chest, stroking his hair out of his face, counting the freckles on his cheeks over and over again until his vision blurred.

Closing his eyes and letting out a sad sigh, he leaned his head softly against Jamie's, letting a few tears of his own slip down his cheeks.

* * *

Mason woke up when he felt Jamie shifting. He wasn't awake but was rather stirring, and Mason assumed that he wasn't feeling well. Perhaps an upset stomach again.

He looked at the clock. 3:22. Way too early to be waking up. If he went back to sleep now, he'd be able to get in a few more hours until getting up for school.

Just as he closed his eyes, Jamie let out a loud groan and leaned over the bed, vomiting into the bowl again. Mason sat up and held Jamie's sweaty hair off of his forehead while rubbing his other hand up and down Jamie's back.

When Jamie lay back down, Mason saw that his eyes were still closed.

Mason gently got a hand under Jamie's opposite shoulder and nudged to roll Jamie's body to his, but Jamie turned onto his other side with his back to Mason. Mason's arm was still under his shoulder, so now his arm was wrapped around the other.

It made Mason sad to see, of course, but he pushed that aside, knowing he has to focus on comforting the other.

He placed his other palm open flat on the middle of Jamie's back.

"Hey," he cooed softly. "I'm sorry. I shouldn't… I shouldn't have-"

"It's fine," Jamie cut him off.

"No. No, it's not. I hurt you and I'm sorry. I was just shocked and I didn't know what to do. That was no excuse to run away like that. Not while you're hurting. I'm sorry. If I could do it again, I'd stay. I promise I'll stay." Gently, as to not force the other into touching if he didn't want to touch anyone, Mason gave a quick tug again.

Either Jamie had forgiven him, or Jamie was just pushing it aside for now, because he rolled over and lay on his side facing Mason.

Mason brushed a lock of hair from Jamie's face and said; "I'm sorry. C'mere?" He held his arms out and case Jamie wanted to cuddle again. He thought, briefly, of in the bathroom and Jamie practically leaped out of the tub at the promise of more cuddles and wondered if this was something they should do more often if they both apparently like it so much.

Jamie scooted in close to Mason and pressed his face into Mason's chest. He wrapped his arms around the blonde and pressed a kiss to the top of his head.

* * *

Mason woke a few hours later, this time a more normal time. Unfortunately, he'll have to go to school again and be apart from Jamie for the duration of his classes.

Jamie was still asleep. Good.

Mason carefully climbed over him as he got out of bed, and silently dressed before sneaking out of the room. And if he was wearing one of Jamie's shirts, well, no one has to know.

* * *

"Hey, man," Brodie held his fist out for a bump in greeting. "How's Jamie? Is he doing okay?"

Mason nodded as he smiled slightly. He knew it was ridiculous that his heart warmed when their friends expressed concern for Jamie. They were _their friends_ , after all. It sometimes felt like Jamie was _his_ that the two in front of him also cared about. Again, ridiculous, because Jamie wasn't _his_. He was his own person.

"He's getting better. His temperature is down to 102.3 now; I think the bath helped."

Brodie and Kellen exchanged a look.

"You, you have him a bath?" Kellen asked slowly.

Mason's face flushed as he remembered the events if the previous day. "Um, yeah. He was really sweaty and hot and-" Mason stopped speaking as Brodie and Kellen exchanged another look, before looking back at him with a strange look. "Why are you looking at me like that? You act as though-" then he realized what they were implying. "Oh, no," his face flushed further. "That's not- we didn't-" Mason stuttered out. "It's not like that! You know I didn't mean it like that!"

"Suuuure," Kellen said in a teasing voice. "Your face totally didn't go red before you even started speaking."

"What? No!"

"'He was really sweaty and hot,'" he teased and the blush on Mason's cheeks travelled to his ears and forehead and down his neck.

"But-"

"So how long have you liked him?"

"What? I don't-" Mason was feeling extremely flustered at the semi-interrogation, how were they being so calm about this? His eyes flickered around to see if anyone at nearby tables were overhearing their conversation. He was grateful that they were the only three at their table today.

"Dude," it was Brodie this time. "It's kinda obvious, but we didn't want to say anything, but you pretty much just confirmed it."

Mason's face felt as though it flushed and paled at the same time. "What?" It came out as a squeak and Mason felt a sudden urge to hide under the table. He couldn't meet their eyes, so he fixed his gaze on his lunch.

"Hey, it's okay, dude. Does Jamie know?"

And, well, it seemed like there was no way out of this, so he shook his head, eyes fixed on the table in front of him.

"Okay, so we've got some time to figure out what you want to say to him and how to come out to him."

 _We_?

"We?" Mason asked.

"Yeah, man. We've got your back. Unless you weren't wanting help or, I mean, like, if you want to figure it all out on your own, that's cool. I just meant that we're here for you and we want you to be happy. And Jamie totally likes you back, but I don't think he knows it, so… I don't know," Kellen trailed off awkwardly.

"I thought Jamie was the only one of us who had the talent of rambling, but I guess not," Mason teased to break the tension. It worked. "But thank you. It means a lot."

Brodie smiled. "Anytime, dude."

"And I don't know about the last part. I know he's gay, but…"

"The what? Oh! About Jamie? Dude, he totally has a crush on you! He's always, like, staring at you, or touching you, or talking about when you're not around, and during all of those times plus when you ruffle his hair or something, he always gets this super fond look. It's so obvious, I can't believe you've never noticed!"

If Jamie really liked him back, that would explain his mortification when Mason literally _ran away_ after seeing him _completely naked_. They've seen each other naked before (they grew up together, how could they not?), but not in years and certainly not when one was crushing on the other. His mind was suddenly flooded with images of a naked and wet Jamie being completely compliant to being manhandled to whatever Mason wanted to do to him.

Mason shifted in his seat. "Thought it was just wishful thinking," he half mumbled out. He didn't really want to admit that whenever he looked at his best friend, it felt like he was as in love Mason as Mason was with him.

… wait… What?

In love with? No, nonono. Mason may have a crush on him, but he can't be _in love with_ his best friend. He just… he can't… can he?

"Hey, you okay?"

Mason snapped back to reality. "What?"

"You looked really panicked for a second. You okay?"

"Fine," he said too quickly. "Fine." He desperately tried to think of some way to change the subject. "Carrie said that you two can come over whenever Jamie's feeling up to it." Of course, his change in topic still revolved around Jamie.

Brodie and Kellen clearly didn't believe his flimsy lie, but they didn't prod. "Okay, sweet."

"Do you happen to have any idea when that would be?"

Mason thought for a moment. "With the rate his temperature has been going down, possibly tomorrow? I'll text you."

The bell ringing cut off any further conversation and the boys bid their farewells as they went their separate ways to their afternoon classes.


	7. Chapter 7

Mason was at Jamie's desk after school, doing homework when he heard Jamie roll over in bed. He didn't think much of it, as Jamie moved around a lot when he was in bed by himself.

He did look up when he heard a thump and saw that Jamie had flopped an arm to where he had resided a few hours ago.

Then a croaky voice. "Mace?"

"Here." His heart warmed to know that he was the first thing Jamie thought off as he woke up.

He rolled the chair over to the side of the bed.

"How are you feeling?"

"Okay. Better. Definitely better now that you're here."

'Now that he's here'? Did that mean that Jamie forgave him for last night?

Mason sighed in relief. "Good. That's so good to hear. I should take your temperature before I tell your mom, though."

Jamie only hmmed in confirmation. "When are Brodie and Kellen coming over?"

"That's up to you. I told them they could come when you were feeling better and ready for visitors."

"Today?"

"Yeah, I told them that today."

"No, I mean, can they come today?"

"Oh! Already? Yeah, sure." Mason grabbed his phone from Jamie's desk. "Do you wanna text them or me?"

Jamie groaned. "No, thank you." It was cute how Jamie was still polite when sleepy and sick.

"Okay."

 **Jamie asked if you guys could come over today. He's still pretty tired, though (just woke up), so don't be expecting him out of bed.**

Mason ran a hand through Jamie's sweaty blond hair as he took his temperature. "101.9. Better, but still not great. Are you sure you want them over today?"

"Yeah," Jamie nodded. "I was really lonely today, cause mom had to into work today. She didn't want to, but they needed her, and I told her I'd be fine and so I was alone for most of the day and so I just want to be around people. Not just anyone though, but, like, friends. Friends are good."

Mason's heart broke. Jamie was a very person oriented person who needed attention, especially when sick, and to be alone the whole day? No wonder he wanted the other two to come over even though he wasn't feeling great.

Kellen was the first to respond.

 _Cool, We'll be over after practice_

Mason went to roll the chair back to the desk when a hand around his wrist stopped him.

"Were you reading more of Shakespeare?"

He wasn't, he was doing geology, but said; "Yeah."

"Could you read it out loud again?"

"Of course." He couldn't deny this boy anything.

Mason tried to grab the book from his backpack, but it was just a bit too far away.

"Jamie? You're gonna have to let me go so I can grab it. I'll be right back."

Jamie let go but kept his arm out and fingers stretched to reach for him the whole few seconds it took for Mason to grab the book. He took Jamie's hand, pressing a kiss to the knuckles before rolling back over. Was Jamie's face that red before?

Mason got settled in the chair, holding the book with one hand, the other still holding Jamie's hand and began to read.

Mason lost track of time as he was reading and it wasn't until the door open did he stop. He looked up, expecting to see Jamie's mom in the doorway out of habit, but it was Brodie poking his head in.

"Jamie's mom sent us up. Is he okay?"

Mason looked over to the Jamie-sized lump in the bed.

"Jaims? You awake, buddy?"

"Mmhm," came the quiet reply from under the blankets. The only part of him that he could see was his hands and half of his forearm from where he was still holding Mason's hand. Then his other hand poked out at the top to pull it down enough that Mason could see his face.

Jamie sleepily blinked a couple times before he turned to Mason. "What?"

"Brodie and Kellen are here," he explained. It seemed that Jamie was too out of it to hear them enter.

Jamie grinned and sat up quickly. "Hey!" Then he groaned as he swayed.

"Hey." Mason was on the edge of the bed with his arms around his best friend in a second. "Jamie? Are you okay? What's wrong?" he asked worriedly.

"Yeah, yeah," Jamie waved his hand dismissively. "'M fine. Just a bit dizzy."

"Maybe you should lay down again," Mason suggested.

Jamie grunted, but instead of leaning back as Mason expected, he tilted sideways into Mason's chest, who's arms instinctively went around the blond.

"Um, should we go?"

Mason looked up to see Brodie and Kellen standing awkwardly by the door.

"No, no. Please stay. Sit," Jamie awkwardly tried to be a good host.

Mason pushed the chair over to the two boys, and after a second, Kellen sat down on the chair while Brodie perched on the edge of Jamie's bed.

Jamie's head fell onto Mason's shoulder as he yawned and stretched like a cat, body pressing into Mason's, with his face scrunching up in the process. Then he rubbed his eyes and blinked a couple times. Finally, he looked back at the two newcomers in his room and asks; "Hey, what's up?" as though he didn't just make a production on how tired he was.

"How are you feeling?"

"Is that Mason's shirt?"

Jamie blinked as the two spoke simultaneously. "What?"

"One at a time, please," Mason added on.

"Are you okay?" Brodie asked again. "Cause, like, you're home sick, but you're acting as though we're at lunch at school."

Jamie shrugged. "I jus' wanted it to be like normal. 'M tired and the only places I've been in the past few days are here and the bathroom. I wanted it to feel like just any other day to take a break from this," he gestured around his bed, " _this_ ness."

Mason frowned at the thought of Jamie being tired and bored and being contained in such a small area. "Do you wanna watch a movie in the living room or basement?"

Jamie thought for a second then nodded.

"Did you just offer up Jamie's basement to him?"

"Um, yeah? I guess I did," Mason laughed. "Do you two have enough time to watch a movie? It's cool if you don't."

They looked at each other and shrugged. "Yeah, we're down for that."

"Great." Then he turned to the sick boy. "Do you want to try the stairs?"

"Ummm, yeesss," Jamie drew out, sounding unsure.

"Don't worry, I'll be there the whole time."

Jamie nodded. "Okay."

Mason climbed out of the bed and held out his arms for support as Jamie climbed out of bed, the other two standing up as well.

"That is Mason's shirt!" Kellen exclaimed gleefully, practically bouncing in delight.

Mason looked down at his shirt, confused as to what Kellen was talking about.

"No, not you, Mason. Obviously you're wearing your shirt. I'm talking about Jamie."

"What?" He and Jamie both look at his chest and saw his football shirt from sophomore year.

That was the only year that Mason was on a sports team; after that he focused more on academics than sports, keeping his exercise to gym class, rather than an extracurricular. The team got t-shirts that had their number and name to look like their jerseys, and sure enough, the number 25 was in small numbers with the words Lincoln Football underneath on the front over his heart.

Mason ducked his head around to look at Jamie's back where the name Viveros was splayed out for all to see.

It made his heart flutter to see his name on Jamie like that. It was like when girls wore their boyfriend's jerseys to games and such. God, he wished that was the case here. Or that that was to become Jamie's last name. When Mason looked back up, both Brodie and Kellen were giving him sly looks. He gave a hard stare back.

"Uh, you may want to put pants on."

Again, that was meant to be for Jamie, as Mason saw that he only had his boxers and Mason's shirt on.

"Oh, um," Jamie's face flushed as he looked around his room. "Where are my sweatpants?"

"Uh," Mason opened Jamie's closet and found Jamie's favourite pair of track pants. They were a light gray and super fuzzy on the inside. "Here they are," Mason said, holding them up.

Jamie held out his hands for them, and when he caught the pants he started to put them on, but when he lifted one leg, he started to tip over from lack of balance.

"Maybe you should sit," Mason suggested as he caught him before he hit the floor.

It wasn't until they had gotten the pants on Jamie and ready to leave did he notice that the other two had left the room and closed the door. When he opened it, he saw them talking as they waited there in the hall.

"Um, hey," Kellen said when he noticed them.

"Sorry about that," Jamie apologize, rubbing a hand across his face.

"Don't worry about it, dude. It's understandable. You're sick. Hell, I can hardly stand having more than a sheet on, I get so hot."

"Yeah, well, both Mason and my mom are keeping me under at least two blankets at all times, so," Jamie shrugged.

"I see that he's taking good care of you."

"Yeah," Jamie beamed at him and MAson's heart fluttered. "Mason's been great. He always is."

Ignoring the pointed looks and stare, he turned to the stairs. "Do you want to try the stairs on your own first?" he asked the sick boy who was still looking at him.

"Uh, sure." Jamie didn't sound convinced.

Jamie had gotten a whole step before one of his knees buckled, sending him careening into Mason.

Mason had had his arms out, ready for when the clumsy boy would fall, catching him easily after years of practice from when Jamie would trip over roots and rocks and other various things growing up.

Lowering himself out of Mason's arms, Jamie sat on the steps, blinking dizzily.

"Do you want me to carry you?" Mason tried to hide his grin.

Jamie just pouted and held his arms out like the girls did when they wanted to be picked up.

Before Mason could do that, Kellen spoke up. "Should one of us," he gestured between himself and Brodie, "be lower on the stairs so you don't fall down?"

"That'd… actually be great, thanks."

They finally got sorted out, Brodie a few steps below them - he was the strongest and could keep them from tumbling down the stairs if needed.

Mason got Jamie's arms and legs secured around him before he stood up, arms under the blond's thighs and ass said boy clinging on like a koala.

It took awhile, but eventually, all four boys were situated on the couch in the basement. They had chosen a light, fun watch that didn't have a lot of flashing or loud noises that would give Jamie a headache and were about to turn off the light when Brodie spoke up.

"So, when was the wedding?"

Mason was so confused. "What wedding?" He hadn't been aware that there was one.

"Your wedding," Brodie pointed to where Jamie was pressed against Mason's side. "I'd ask when _is_ the wedding, but my dudes, you're _already_ married."

Jamie's face went a bright red as he squeaked. Adorable.

"We're not," Mason tried, face feeling as hot as Jamie's looked.

"Mason, please. You were holding hands and reading to him when we got here, you suggested a movie like you lived here, which it seems that you do, you helped Jamie up, found his sweatpants, helped him get them on and carried him down the stairs with him clinging to you the entire time. All while Jamie is wearing your shirt."

"And," Kelen interjected, "that's only in the last, what, ten minutes? The past few days at school you've hardly looked up from your phone, waiting for updates from or about Jamie, and the only times you did look up was to give us said updates. Not that there's anything wrong with it, we just were wondering when you got married."

"Umm," Mason didn't know what to say.

"And now you're cuddling on a couch," Brodie flicked off the lights, "in a dark room."

Before he or Jamie could react, Kellen pressed play on the remote, starting the movie.

Mason didn't know what to think. He was grateful that his friends were so accepting, but did they have to rub it in that he and Jamie would never be together the way Mason wanted? They exposed how he was feeling and Mason wasn't sure how Jamie felt about that.

It was around fifteen minutes into the movie that he realized that Jamie didn't seem to mind. In fact, his best friend was practically climbing in his lap, no, scratch that. He _was_ climbing into Mason's lap.

Jamie lay sideways across Mason, leaning against him as his arms wrapped around his torso and his head resting on Mason's shoulder.

"You okay?" Mason asked quietly, not wanting to disrupt the other two.

"Mmm cold. Tired." Jamie nuzzled his face into Mason's neck.

Mason wrapped his arms around him and looked around for a spare blanket, not seeing one.

"Hey," Mason whispered to Brodie who was sitting closest to them. "Could you grab the extra blankets from the closet back there?" He gestured to the back of the room with his head.

Brodie nodded, quietly climbing off the couch, pushing off the blanket he was sharing with Kellen before returning moments later with an armload of blankets. With Brodie's help, the two of them got a nest wrapped around Jamie.

Jamie let out a little puff of air against Mason's neck, making him shiver. Mason ran a hand through his blond hair and rubbed his back as the other slowly fell asleep.

He stared at Jamie for a while - he loved to watch him sleep; he looked so content - and, forgetting about the other two, he kissed Jamie's forehead, before leaning his head atop Jamie's and got cozy to watch the rest of the movie.


	8. Chapter 8

Brodie looked over to where Jamie was curled up in Mason's lap on the couch.

When Mason first told him that Jamie was sick, like, really sick, he had gotten really worried. Jamie had gotten sick before, but he was usually fine in a day or two and it wasn't ever this serious. And then being told that Jamie was sick on Saturday and still wasn't at school that Monday? Yeah, it was explainable as to why he was worried.

But seeing the gentle care Mason took of his best friend in the dim glow let Brodie know that Jamie was in good hands.

The two boys in question were wrapped up together next to him, bundled up in so many blankets that he could hardly see Jamie at all. Only a little tuft of blond hair poked up over the top.

Eventually, Kellen broke the silence. "Hey, Mason?"

"Yeah?" Mason looked up at but didn't stop running his hands through Jamie's hair.

"Why do you call Jamie 'James'? I thought he didn't like that name, that that's why he goes by Jamie."

Brodie nodded, indicating that he also wanted to know why. It's something that's been confusing him and Kellen for a while.

"Oh, I don't call him _James_ J-A-M-E-S, but _Jaims_ J-A-I-M-S. I think I first used it over text and didn't realize that it sounds the same until I said it out loud. I asked if it was still okay to call him that and he said it was fine because it was different, So," he shrugged.

"So you're using a nickname for his nickname?" Kellen simplified.

"I guess so, yeah."

"You know, it kinda sounds French, with the 'ai'. Kind of like 'J'aime' which means 'I love.'" Brodie thought out loud.

"Wait," Kellen cut in. "That means your nickname for him is 'I love'? 'My love'?"

"Aww, how sweet," Brodie cooed as Mason's face reddened.

"But- I don't- I-" the Latino stammered out his protests.

"Hey, dude. It's okay," Brodie said to keep Mason from getting worked up. "We're just teasing. We'll stop now." He paused for a second. "Though your nickname for him is cute."

Mason hit him with a pillow, though not as hard as Brodie would have expected. When he saw Mason look down to make sure Jamie was still sleeping, he knew why.

Brodie tried to stay quiet and enjoy the movie but too soon his need for a drink was too much.

"Hey, Mason," he whispered quietly. "Do you know where I could get a drink? We came straight from football and I'm a little dehydrated right now."

"Oh, yeah. Sorry, should've asked before we came down here. Um," he looked down to Jamie in his lap.

"I can get it myself, you don't have to disturb him," Brodie said quickly, knowing why Mason was hesitating.

"No, I'll go. I need to use the bathroom anyway."

"Alright," Brodie reluctantly agreed. He didn't want to wake Jamie, but if Mason needed to get up anyway...

Jamie grumbled as Mason gently lifted him up to slide out from under him, though his arms stayed locked around Mason's chest.

Kellen elbowed Brodie in the side and when he looked over he saw a pillow in his hands. Kellen gestured to the other two and Brodie understood what he meant.

"Here." He held it out and help Mason to slide it into Jamie's arms who immediately latched onto it, freeing Mason.

They got the sick boy settled into his blankets (minus Mason) before continuing on with the movie.

Mason returned a few minutes later with four water bottles and two cans of coke in his arms.

"I wasn't sure what you wanted," he whispered when he returned, putting the drinks on the table. "So I got you both water and pop."

"Thanks, man."

It was a bit of a struggle for Mason to get back to his seat, as he had to get in the nest and under Jamie.

For the most part, Jamie didn't wake up, but he did stir towards the end when he was back in Mason's lap. He half blinked twice, eyes heavy with sleep.

He was still holding the pillow but Brodie said "Here, Jamie, hold onto Mason instead," as he rolled Jamie into Mason's chest.

"Mmkay."

Brodie watched, amused, as Jamie immediately released his hold of the pillow and grabbed Mason half a second later, closing his eyes and pushing his face into Mason's neck.

Jamie clearly liked Mason back and how Mason didn't notice was beyond him. The trust and love that Jamie was putting in his best friend were like what Brodie saw when he watched his parents in their own happy bubble.

* * *

When Jamie slowly woke up he felt warm and safe. His body felt heavy and he wanted to go back to sleep, but there were noises that further woke him up.

As he became more aware of his surroundings, he realized that the noises were from a movie playing and that the warmth he felt was from the body that he was curled up into. Their scent was familiar and comforting.

He pushed his face into Mason's neck and breathed deeply before letting out a little sigh.

Mason shivered slightly.

"Good morning. Nice nap?" His voice had an odd tone to it. A little strangled?

Jamie just rolled his head to the side onto Mason's shoulder and blinked sleepily.

"Brodie and Kellen had to go. They wanted to say goodbye but they didn't want to wake you."

"Jus' them?"

"What?" Mason looked confused.

"Wassit jus' them who didn' wanna wake me?"

"Okay, fine. I didn't want them to wake you either."

Jamie sat up as he yawned and stretched.

He noticed that he was feeling better; he could think clearer, he was comfortably warm (well… a _little_ warmer than comfortable), and his stomach wasn't twisted in knots. He ran a hand through his hair.

"What time is it?"

"Uh, my phone's on the table," Mason pointed.

As Jamie leaned forward to grab it he saw that the end credits were rolling across the screen. He was also made suddenly aware of the fact that he was sitting on Mason's lap. His face heated up.

6:38.

"You should probably be getting back to your house soon," Jamie said as he stood up and immediately wobbled.

"What? Careful!" Mason said confused then alarmed, jumping up as well, arms out to catch Jamie.

Jamie caught himself before he fell over, hands braced on Mason's arms. He stood still for a few seconds as his world righted itself and he caught his balance.

"Sorry," Jamie released Mason's forearms. "I'm fine. Just got a little dizzy for a second."

"Are you sure?" His best friend sounded hesitant.

"Yeah. Sorry." He was still a little dizzy and tired so he closed his eyes as he leaned against the arm of the couch.

"I'm going to check your temperature."

"Yeah, okay."

When Jamie didn't move Mason spoke up again.

"Are you wanting to stay down here? Or…?"

"Oh. Uh, kitchen, I guess."

Jamie wanted to try going up the stairs on his own but he didn't have enough energy to get himself up for each step. Mason's hands settled on his lower back and gave the extra push Jamie needed and he relished in the warm touch.

Once they got to the top Mason took back his hands and Jamie felt cold where his hands had been and bit back a whine at the loss of contact.

He shuffled to the table in the middle of the room, collapsing onto it as soon as he dropped into a chair.

A hand rubbed his back.

"Are you wanting some tea?"

Jamie hummed as he buried his face into his folded arms.

"I can't tell if that was a yes or no, so I'm just going to make some. It'll make you feel better." He could hear amusement and concern in Mason's voice and he hummed again.

The mug was just being set in front of him when his mom walked in.

"Jamie!" She said cheerily, a smile growing across her face. "How're you feeling, sweetie?"

She sat across from him at the table and Jamie couldn't help but smile a little as well at the presence of his mom.

"Better. A lot better, actually. Still tired, though." He brought the mug up to his face and the hot steam was pleasant on his face. He knew it would be too hot to drink just yet, so he just held it there as he talked to his mom.

"Brodie and Kellen didn't tire you out too much, did they?"

"No, no. We went downstairs to watch a movie, but I slept through most of it."

He put the mug down and reached for the jar of sugar but Mason's hand on his wrist stopped him.

"I already put some in."

"Oh. Thank you." Jamie smiled at his best friend, touched that Mason didn't even have to ask.

"Because you haven't had any yet…" Mason said as he pulled out the thermometer, sticking it in Jamie's mouth.

Jamie whined his complaint but didn't take it out as his mom and best friend chuckled at him.

"The girls are in their room and I'm going to put them to bed soon if you're up to say goodnight to them."

"Hmm mhmm." (Yeah, okay.)

"No speaking."

"M hmm!" (I'm not!)

Mason ruffled his hair and his mom patted his cheek and Jamie flushed in embarrassment.

Finally, the thermometer beeped and Mason grabbed it before Jamie could.

"101.9. Better, but still not good."

Jamie winced as he brought his mug to his lips to sip his tea. It wasn't too hot anymore and was at the sweetness he liked. He smiled again at the fact that Mason had gotten it right.

His mom also made him nibble on a piece of toast with a thin layer of melted butter.

The warmth of the tea and toast warmed him up inside and soon his head was propped up on a hand, too heavy to hold itself up. He didn't realize his eyes fluttered shut until he felt his mom lightly squeeze his shoulder.

"Jamie, baby," she said softly.

"Hmm?" Jamie had to force his eyes to open.

"Maybe you should say goodnight to the girls and go to bed."

He felt himself nodding but didn't have enough strength to try and stand up. His whole body felt heavy and suddenly his chin slipped from his palm and his head went careening to the table. It was softer than he expected.

His mom let out a nervous, breathy laugh. "Good reflexes."

"Thanks." Mason's voice was right next to his ear and Jamie could feel his warmth along his arms and legs and his forehead.

It was then that he realized that the 'soft table' was actually Mason's hand.

He picked up his head, mumbling out a "Thanks."

Mason's still outreached hand came up to ruffle his hair. Normally he'd bat it away, but now he just leaned into the touch.

Sitting up straighter, Jamie reluctantly pulled away from his best friend and used the table to push himself up.

"Yeah, I'll go say hi to them."

Mason followed Jamie's wobbly path out of the kitchen, but when they were at the base of the stairs by the front door, Jamie paused.

"I'll see you tomorrow, yeah?"

"What?"

"Aren't you going home now?"

"Wasn't planning on it. Are you kicking me out?" Mason put a hand on his chest in mock hurt. "I'm wounded."

"Obviously not, dork. No, I just figured that you probably shouldn't spend a week here straight without going home. Go relax, rest, do homework, get some of Londa's cooking, or whatever."

Mason's lips pursed and Jamie had to fight to tear his eyes away.

"I'll be fine for one night. I promise."

"Okay." Mason nodded. "Text me, okay? Let me know how you're feeling. I don't care what time of day or night."

Jamie smiled at his best friend's parenting of him. "Course."

"Okay. I'll be over after school." Mason smiled and ruffled his hair again.

Jamie tried to go up the stairs on his own but after a few minutes, he eventually had to call over his mom to help him out.

"Jamie! Jamie!" Elisabeth shrieked, jumping up from the floor. Jamie had to pick his way through her toys on the ground to reach her.

"Hey, there. Were you good for Mom today?" He asked, crouching down to her level. Her hands came to rest on his knees to help herself stand.

Ann Marie giggled from where she sat beside her sister, arms raised above her, begging to be picked up. And really, how could he not?

He scooped her up into his arms, though not as easy as he normally would. She was difficult to lift with his arms and body still weak from being sick.

Too sick to hold his balance in a crouch, he let out a dramatic cry and he 'fell' backwards onto the beanbag chair in their room for when he spent time with his sisters. Ann Marie climbed up onto his thigh and he held most of her weight against his torso.

She planted a big wet kiss on his cheek before nuzzling her head into his neck.

"Hey there," he cooed in her ear, running a hand up and down her back.

Not wanting to be left out, Elisabeth waddled over to the opposite side and stood next to him as she grabbed onto his moving arm. He lifted it from her sister and pulled her in until her face was pressed into the other side of his neck. She threw her arms around his neck and stood there for a few seconds before pulling away to grab what she had been playing with when he came in.

He didn't know how long he sat there against the beanbag chair, Ann Marie cuddled into his chest as Elisabeth babbled and showed him things from around their room. A drawing. A… thing she made while at daycare. Her favourite stuffed animal. A book.

She handed the book to him and after he took it she grabbed a blanket and made herself comfortable at his side.

"Want me to read this?"

"Ya." She nodded and pressed her face into his arm.

"What about you, Annie M? Do you want me to read it?"

Ann Marie also nodded as she reached out and traced one of the animals on the cover with a chubby finger.

"Let it be said, let it be done," Jamie said as he opened the book and started to read out loud.

The two girls were drifting off to sleep by the time he finished, eyes occasionally blinking open before slipping shut half a second later. Jamie himself felt warm and comfortable on the beanbag chair with his sisters that he let his own eyes shut as he wrapped an arm around each girl, pulling them into him.

* * *

Jamie was awoken to a small shake on his shoulder. He blinked tiredly up to see his mom standing over him.

"Hey, sweetie," she whispered. "The girls should be put in their own bed for the night. I didn't want to wake you, but you should also go to your own bed. You're not going to be comfortable there all night."

Head still foggy with sleep, Jamie looked around for the clock. 8:47.

"Yeah, okay."

He lay still as his mom gently picked up Elisabeth before carrying her to her crib. Ann Marie was still on his chest, so Jamie wrapped an arm around her as he pushed himself up with his other hand. It was a bit of a struggle to stand up and wobbled when he was standing, suddenly dizzy.

His mom placed a steadying hand on his arm and back. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Yeah, just tired and dizzy."

"I can take her." She gestured to Ann Marie.

"No, it's okay. I've got her."

It took a little encouragement to get her to let go of his neck, but soon he got Ann Marie settled and tucked in. When he turned around he saw his mom standing in the doorway, watching him with a soft smile.

She held open her arms and Jamie stepped forward into a hug.

"You're so good with them."

He smiled and gave a little squeeze in thanks.

Pulling away, he said "What food is there? I'm hungry."

"Oh, _now_ you're hungry," she said with a laugh. "Let's go see."

She shut the girls' door quietly as Jamie started making his way back down the stairs. He only made it one step until he had to wait for his mom to hold onto her and the railing for balance.

They found some crackers and cheese for him to have.

"You sent Mason away?" She wasn't eating; she'd already had dinner, so she was just sitting there with him in silence before she asked about Mason.

"What makes you think I sent him away? Maybe he wanted to go home for a bit."

"Because I know he would never leave on his own. Not while you're sick. Not when he can take care of you. I practically had to push him out the door for school, I bet he would've skipped if I didn't make him leave. Also, I heard you talking in the hall when he left."

Jamie felt his cheeks heat a little. He nibbled on his crackers as she sat with her cup of water for him to speak.

"I just, I don't know. He's been here for I don't even know how many days and as far as I know he hasn't been home since he got here. He doesn't _need_ to be here, he should spend time at home with his family. I know I'm not great company when I'm like this. He deserves a break from constantly looking after me. And I'm not a kid. I don't _need_ to be taken care of-" his mom gave him a cool look and he relented- "Fine. I kinda do, but it doesn't have to be him the whole time. Besides, exams are coming up soon and he should be studying with all those AP classes he's taking."

"And you think one night will help him with his exams? He'll probably just be worried about you tonight and I don't doubt that he'll be back here tomorrow as soon as school's out."

Jamie bit his lip. He knew his mom was right. Mason wouldn't study tonight. He'd be more likely glued to his phone, waiting for a text from Jamie until he falls asleep, phone in hand.

"Yeah, well," he shrugged. "I'll be fine for one night. He has to know that."

"I'm sure he does." His mom smiled and patted him on his hand before standing up and taking her cup and his empty plate to the dishwasher.

* * *

On his way to his room, Mason barely missed running into Gabe as his brother belatedly looked up from his phone.

"Jamie kick you out?" He said in lieu of hello.

"Shaddup." Mason pushed past him and into their room. He flopped down on his bed, a frown prominent on his face. He didn't like that Jamie _had_ essentially kicked him out. He understood what Jamie was saying and he knew his back would appreciate him not sleeping on the floor for the fourth night in a row. He knew, but he didn't have to like it.

He briefly wondered if he should've stayed long enough to help Jamie up the stairs, but he wouldn't want to make Jamie feel helpless.

He lay there for a few minutes, not moving on his bed until he pulled out his phone, wondering if he'd gotten a text and not noticed. Nothing. He fiddled with his phone, flipping it over and over in boredom. Things must be fine. Jamie's mom would text him if something happened, and logically he knew nothing happened. It's only been- he checked his phone (no texts)- twenty minutes since he left.

He tapped his fingers on his phone repeatedly absentmindedly as he thought of things that could have happened, what Jamie was doing, and what Mason could be doing if he were there.

"Calm down."

Mason looked up. He hadn't noticed that Gabe had come back in.

"I'm sure he's fine. Jamie's a big boy, he'll be fine. It's just a cold."

"A 103.1 cold."

Gabe winced. "Okay, that's not great."

"Not great?" He sat up to face his brother. "A headache is not great. Feeling queasy is not great. Being in pain is not great. Having all three at once plus more is worse than 'not great.'"

"Okay, bad. That sounds like a shitty time and he would probably feel better if you were there to tuck him in and hold his hand."

Mason bit his lip again, looking back down at his phone. "Would he?" he asked, ignoring the last part. "Should I go back?" He ran a hand through his hair.

"Christ, Mason, no. I mean, I don't know if he would rather you there- wouldn't be surprised if he did- but give him space. You've been over there every day since Saturday and it's Tuesday. That's a lot, maybe not for you two, but still. _He'll be fine_. He's not going to die without you for one day."

Mason felt a stab of panic that he immediately pushed down.

"Take some time for yourself," Gabe went on, "and breathe. Have some time to yourself. Study? Exams are coming up at some point-"

"-Next week, thanks for the reminder," Mason said sarcastically.

"Exactly, Relax, get a cup of tea or whatever, and look after yourself for once while you have time. You can't look after him if you take yourself down as well."

Mason smiled at his brother's unusual overabundance of kindness. "Thanks, Gabe."

"Seriously, though. You look like hell. Shower, shave and sleep."

There it was. " _Thanks_ , Gabe."

Mason did shower later that evening, though he didn't shave. That could wait until morning. He tried taking Gabe's advise, but he couldn't help but text Jamie's mom, asking for an update while he was brushing his teeth.

It wasn't until he was in bed that he got a reply.

 **He's doing better. He fell asleep while reading to the girls, but I had to wake him up to get them to bed. He had a few crackers and cheese and is now in his own bed, and was out right away.**

Good. That was good. If he could hold the toast and crackers, that'd be great. He smiled softly at the second sentence. He didn't get to see Jamie read to his sisters very often, but he loved it when he did. He could picture the three of them curled up on the beanbag chair and his heart felt warm.

"Stop being gay, and go to sleep."

"I can't just stop being gay, dumbass. Also, why can't I be gay while being asleep?"

"I don't care when you're gay or not, just turn off your damn phone and go. To. Sleep."

"Fine." Mason turned off the screen of his phone but didn't put it down, rolling over, away from his brother. "Dumbass," he said quietly.

The pillow that came careening his way hit his back and Mason didn't give it back.


End file.
